Wednesday 30 November 2011

One Down Two to Go. (or, I Wore a Misfits shirt to my Bone Scan) from April 30, 2008

They didn't tell me that the radioactive tracer they were going to inject into me would be toxic for my baby. (No breast feeding for 48 hours) They didn't tell me it would make me radio active. (so I should keep my distance from my baby for 24 hours) So I was a bit shocked when I got to the hospital's Nuclear Medicine department at 7:30 this morning and they told me I should have pumped some milk. (not that it's about milk at this stage) How do you tell a 13 month old she can't be picked up or snuggled or breast fed by her mommy?

Luckily Grandmama had the day off, and Gramma was able to get leave from the house (the legislature is a bit like High school, but that's a whole other topic) for the rest of the day. So Indiana was able to be distracted by grandmas the whole day. But I am starting to get a bit annoyed by the fact that there is very little written or spoken about breast feeding and cancer. Nobody thinks about it. I'd like them to write in big letters at the top of my file - BREAST FEEDING - so they can take my daughter into consideration when things like this come up. Yes, I am going to have to wean, but I've only had five days.

A bone scan is actually kind of neat though. They lay you on this table that is very much like a back board, it's narrow and uncomfortable. And they tape your feet together, turned in to expose as much of your hips and leg bones as possible. And you have to lay very still while this machine that looks very much like two giant xerox machines slowly passes over and under you, maybe an inch from your face, and photographs your entire skeleton over 25 minutes. The image of your skeleton comes up on a computer screen (after the machine gets past your head you can look around). It's very cool. And would be cooler if the point wasn't to look for tumors. I don't appear to have any tumors in my bones. I may however have shin splints in my right leg (blame my job for that one). They x-rayed my right leg afterward to be sure of what the fractures were in my shin. But it's probably not a tumor. I say "probably" because they said my lump was a fibroadinoma and they were wrong.

I have two more tests to check for more cancer. They're both on Thursday - an abdominal ultrasound and an MRI. Keep your fingers crossed.

Now I'm just waiting to see if I stick to walls or if I'll turn green when I'm angry. Who wants to be the first to make me angry?





This is the shirt I wore to my bone scan.


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